MENLO PARK, Calif. — Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., of the Silicon Valley is preparing to introduce legislation that will create a new division within the Food and Drug Administration to govern fast-developing healthcare applications, according to a report published by Kaiser Health News last week.

It's big business — according to projections made by Research2guidance, the healthcare mobile app market, dubbed mHealth, could total $1.3 billion by year's end, up from $718 million in 2011.

Honda's legislation, called the Healthcare Innovation and Marketplace Technologies Act, would establish a special Office of Mobile Health at the FDA to provide recommendations on mobile health app issues. The legislation would also seek the writing of a mobile health developer support program at the Department of Health and Human Services that could help app developers from violating HIPAA or other privacy regulations.

"Currently, our healthcare system works against small-to-large startup entrepreneurs with a multitude of barriers to entry," noted Honda in a statement published by Kaiser Health News. “Why have the principles of Silicon Valley, which I represent — competition, innovation and entrepreneurship — not fully manifested themselves in the healthcare information technology space? This bill gets us closer to that space.”